In case it escaped your notice…
This happened in Washington, DC over the weekend:
My buddy Matt Welch, Reason editor-in-chief, was there. I consider Matt to be way too much of a centrist, though he does a superb job fighting the good fight when it comes to most forms of liberty. But consider that this is a guy in favor of some form of socialized healthcare. He reports:
I had a very hard time reconciling the human beings I talked to and observed with the caricatures described in pre-writes by the New York Times’ Gail Collins (”The tea party movement activists range from geeky Ron Paulists who obsess about the money supply to conspiracy theorists who believe that Barack Obama is a noncitizen brought here by people who hate this country”), the L.A. Times’ Tim Rutten (”the talk-show/tea-party right…if it has its way–will convert the GOP into an almost exclusively white, zealously religious, mostly Southern party”), and Gawker’s Alex Pareene (”Glenn Beck is an actual terrorist, and the people attending his rally in DC tomorrow are al-Qaeda in America”).
Political rallies are no place to seek the subtle truth, nor feel particularly glowing about your countrymen, and today was no different in that regard for me. But the meta-fact about a huge anti-Obamanomics protest eight months into his term is certainly significant, and very little of what I saw made me fear that Alex Pareene will be blown to smithereens by a suicide hijacker from Arkansas. I am confident, however, that I will soon be made to fear what I utterly failed to detect.
Filed under: Life
not sure why you’re hiding you’re real feelings. but anyway, here’s what the LEADER OF THE TEA PARTY Mark Williams had to say on cnn. keep in mind, this is their leader:
Anderson Cooper: “What you’re saying makes sense to me here when I’m hearing what you say but then I read on your blog, you say, you call the President an Indonesian Muslim turned welfare thug and a racist in chief.”
Williams: “Yeah, that’s the way he’s behaving…He’s certainly acting like it. Until he embraces the whole country what else can I conclude.”
Brian, I’m not known for hiding my feelings. What is it you think I’m keeping secret, exactly?
My post is about the mis-reporting of the event and the cross-section of people who participated. Your comment is about the leader of one particular group that, while it surely had members present, does not speak
for every person who showed up. Matt’s piece is a great read; the link is provided. The quote I blogged, above, pretty much sums up why
focusing on one element is poor journalism and shows a lack of critical thinking.
Obama is not doing anything different than Bush, with the exception of health care - if that even happens. It’s the same. Bush did bailouts, he put us in massive debt. It’s the same. If anything, Bush infringed on our freedom a shit load more than Obama.
And yet, these people were absolutely silent for 8 years. Silent.
Now why do you think that is?
Journalism does what it’s always done - it reports on the people who are screaming the loudest and will get the most attention. And just as your friend writes, there’s more than enough of these people talking about Hitler and Obama and Nazi Germany. You don’t have to struggle to find them. What’s the media gonna do, not report that?
Brian, what am I hiding? I’m really dying to know at this point.
As for Bush and whether or not these people were silent, I think some of them were, because they were dumb enough not to see that he was a thief who liked to spend their money like it was going out of style. Some of them thought he was right to spend the money to “save jobs”. And some simply didn’t care because they supported him on other matters. Those of us who hated him all along for being a rights infringer and thief were not nearly as represented in the media as those who hated him because he was a supposed “war criminal” or whatever. You couldn’t move without buggering a Bush hater for the last eight years, but those who happen to work in journalism overwhelmingly hated him for reasons besides his love of thieving and spending. So that’s what was reported.
As for Obama “not doing anything different,” I don’t know where your information is coming from. Just off the top of my head, how about producing a stock market mini-boom by buying government and corporate debt by the Federal Reserve (with money that it creates from nothing), masking a capital structure that grows worse by the minute?
“Journalism” doesn’t do anything - journalists do. I count many of them (including Matt) as friends, and the ones I know report reality, with integrity. They are the exception, not the rule. Are we vigorously agreeing here? For a second there, it sounded like you were defending this kind of journalism with your citation of the Tea Party guy.
Again: What am I hiding?
they were silent, there were no marches, and there were certainly no tea parties. it wasn’t the media’s fault, they weren’t around. and we both know why that is.
Bush would’ve done the same thing in terms of the bailouts and stimulus, etc.
what are you hiding? you’re hiding the fact that you agree with the crazy people…
Brian, if you have something to say, say it. Talking in code is for pussies.
I’m hiding that I agree with the “crazy people” (some of them surely are nuts) that Obama is a shitty president doing irreparable damage to the poorest and most vulnerable? Here I thought I’d been pretty open about it. Either that or you haven’t been paying attention. Which makes me wonder why you’d comment at all.
What code am I speaking? I think i’m saying everything pretty clearly. I don’t mean to be confusing.
I’d love to know what damage Obama is doing to the poorest and most vulnerable. Just an example or two would be great, cause i honestly don’t know what you mean.
Message for “brian rubinstein.” [I hope the lack of upper case is not some sign that you’re afraid that proper nouns are a form of phallocentric egotistical oppression.]
Put your index fingers back in your ears and screw your eyes shut tightly. The world will look and sound better that way.
Brian, terms like “and we both know why that is” are pussy-speak. Say what you mean. Man up.
An example or two, and they’re even fresh from the morning’s headlines: Everyone, regardless of income, will be forced to purchase government health coverage under all reform legislation before Congress (Washington Post, Sept 16, 2009): http://bit.ly/cGgA1 - “Depending on how Congress requires insurers to price their policies, this group could even wind up paying disproportionately hefty premiums — effectively subsidizing coverage for their parents.” If you don’t purchase the coverage, you pay a fine of $750 or $950 per year (single people, depending on income). No details on what the premium is or what you get for it: You just shut the fuck up and pay (for coverage or the fine), even if you’re struggling to make ends meet, or you go to jail. You’re even more screwed if you’re young and have existing health problems, since your income is probably not high enough to afford the government’s expensive policies. As Heather Smith, exec director of Rock the Vote puts it, under-30s “are struggling” - and they’re the ones who will finance the coverage for those who aren’t.
See also the Medicare prescription drug plan, which will be financed by the poor to pay for the wealthy. I’m sure you’ve done your research on this, so I’m not telling you anything you don’t know.
Meanwhile, 3000 more troops are being sent to Afghanistan and 1000 to Iraq by Obama, Gitmo is still open for business, “don’t ask, don’t tell” is alive and well, and Obama is supporting the extension of three provisions of the Patriot Act (due to expire at the end of 2009). Obama remains staunchly opposed to gay marriage. He’s also open to “sin” taxes that would hit the country’s poor hardest.
I guess that’s what passes for “liberal” and compassionate these days. Sounds pretty conservative and draconian to me.
Moderation note: I was out last night and woke up this morning to the comment above. For those unfamiliar with this blog: Argue ideas, not that so-and-so is “crazy”. This is a place for facts and reasoned debate, not shit-flinging. This isn’t MSNBC or Fox News. Please take bitch comments to those sites which foster such anti-intellectual behavior.
First of all, thank you so much for having evidence and reasons for believing what you believe. Shockingly, you’re the first person I’ve talked to who could articulate it.
Second, I can’t help but note that Obama has been in office for 8 months, while Bush was in for 8 years. And most of the things you mentioned are leftovers from the Bush years, or even the Clinton years. Some of which Obama has tried to change but has been blocked by the people who are encouraging these tea parties.
As for health care, we are the only industrialized nation not to have universal health care for all. The poor and sick are being left out. There was a emergency medical truck - the kind that usually goes to 3rd world countries - in Inglewood a couple weeks ago. People started lining up for it at 3 am, and it was there all day and there were still people waiting for help. Some even had health care, but weren’t covered for certain things - like dental. That’s the system we have now. Those are the poorest and most vulnerable. Do you know about them?
The system needs to change, why the hysteria about trying to change it?
And finally, I am so ashamed by my lack of using capital letters in my name. What a fool I’ve been. But it’s wrong to sling mud like that, but apparently calling me a “pussy” is just fine.
The reason for the “pussy talk” was because you didn’t seem to like things spelled out, it’s too much “msnbc” stuff for you. But let me spell it out then: this “uprising” is about a black president with a funny name. I’m the last person who’d want to say it’s racism, cause I think that’s a bullshit excuse most of the time. But there is no other explanation here.
I know he’s black and scary, but I don’t think anyone will be thrown in jail because they can’t afford to join. That’s the kind of paranoia that I don’t understand, and can only chalk up to people who are scared of Barack Hussein Obama. God, what a frightening name!
But seriously, I respect your opinions and your reasons for them, and we respectfully disagree.
When it comes to healthcare, I don’t need the lecture. I actually lived for a decade in a country with the rationed healthcare that you seem to think is a solution. It was a nightmare, two people close to me died due to the horrible conditions, and many more lingered on waiting lists for standard medical procedures because of the “free” healthcare they were forced under threat of jailtime to subscribe to.
I agree, the US healthcare system sucks. But that’s not because politicians need to be running it. It’s the bureaucracy that got us in this mess in the first place. I mean, for real: Insurance companies aren’t allowed to sell the same policy across state lines, and you want to tell me that more government “help” is the answer? Why do you think that? What evidence do you have that the government that runs Gitmo, the Iraq war, and Hurricane Katrina recovery can run a healthcare system that doesn’t kill and maim the “customers” (who aren’t true customers, since they go to prison if they don’t buy what they don’t want)?
I actually co-founded (as a project I got no pay for) a healthcare program that would help the uninsured and under-insured to get care at deeply discounted rates, by eliminating insurers from the equation completely. In a nutshell: Medical providers (who spend an ungodly amount of money every year simply on insurance administration alone) sign up for the program, offering a discount of at least 40% on the amount they charge insurance companies (which is, of course, inflated by insurance companies, too). So instead of shelling out (random example) a $900 co-pay on an MRI, you can pay the hospital $150 directly for the whole thing. The hospital doesn’t have to deal with the insurance companies or incur the cost of doing so, and gets more than they would from the insurer anyway.
Sad thing is, the Obama administration doesn’t want programs like this to exist. So it’s not a viable option. There’s your brilliant government “help” in action. What does it do for the poorest and most vulnerable? (And yeah, I know a lot about them. I don’t think my parents in particular would thank me for detailing our financial situation when I was growing up, but let’s just say I’ve experienced government healthcare in America and it’s not something I would subject you to - much less force you to pay for - as much as we disagree.)
I don’t give a shit what this guy’s name is. (If it matters, I have a fantastic black stepdad and black step-siblings, but I’m sure I’m just not in touch with my inner Grand Wizard yet. Will keep trying to find the hate you know is in me.)
If your point was “some people are racist” then I’m just shocked you felt that needed to be said. I thought this was a basic reality of life on planet earth.
Brian, I think a lot of people probably refuse to talk to you because of how you address them. Frankly, I usually don’t get this kind of ad hominem drama on my blog, and I don’t have much tolerance for it. The only reason I allowed myself to get into it is because I respect and admire your comedy writing. Even though we haven’t met, I see you as a real person and address you the way I would if we were face to face. I’d like to think you’d be a bit less personally insulting if you were having this conversation face to face. Don’t feel obligated to inform me if that’s not the case.